Lighting assembly device

ABSTRACT

Industrial luminaire has a single ballast housing and a plurality of detachable lateral mounting arms for mounting a desired number of optical assemblies on the ballast housing. Each mounting arm is formed at one end for selective attachment to any of the ballast housing sides and has a support device at the other end for detachably hanging an optical assembly.

United States Patent Osteen et al.

[151 3,678,263 [4 1 July 18,1972

1541 LIGHTING ASSEMBLY DEVICE [72] Inventors: Mitchell M. Osteen, Zirconia; James L.

Grlndle, Hendersonville, both of NC.

[73] Assignee: General Electric Company [22] Filed: Dec. 8, 1969 [211 App]. No.: 882,885

[52] 11.8. C1 ..240/52 [51] Int. Cl. .;...F2lv 21/00 [58] Field 01 Search ..240/52, 52.1, 149, 150, 78,

240/78 F, 78 DA, 73 BI, 73 JC, 73 CD, 73 R, 81 H, 81 BA, 81 BE; 248/342, 317, 318, 223

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,045,273 11/1912 Fisher "240/78 1,629,489 5/1927 Duorak.... 3,272,978 9/1966 Jackson 3,281,102 10/1966 Hobson ..248/223 3,302,013 1/1967 Richardson ..240/$2.l X 1,386,884 8/1921 McKay ....339/120 X 3,562,512 2/1971 Oshima et a1. ..240/78 OTHER PUBLICATIONS Abolite Adlllurninating Engineering Feb. 1964 pp. 15A Quad Ad- Illuminating Engineering Sept. 1965 pp. 56A Abolite Ad- Illuminating Engineering Nov. 1968 pp. 2A

Primary Examiner-Richard C. Queisser AssismmExaminer-Ellis J. Koch Attorney-Sidney Greensberg, J. Wesley Haubner, Frank I... Neuhauser, Oscar B. Waddell and Joseph B. Forman 57 ABSTRACT Industrial luminaire has a single ballast housing and a plurality of detachable lateral mounting arms for mounting a desired number of optical assemblies on the ballast housing. Each mounting arm is formed at one end for selective attachment to any of the ballast housing sides and has a support device at the other end for detachably hanging an optical assembly.

2 Clalns, 7 Drawing Figures PATENTEnJuL18m12 3 678 263 sum 1 [1F 3 PATENTED JUL18|972 678,263

SHEET 2 BF 3 PATENTEU JUL 1 8 1912 SHEET 3 BF 3 M/Md/M 05/291,

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LIGHTING ASSEMBLY DEVICE The present invention relates to luminaires, and particularly to industrial luminaires of the type employing high intensity gaseous discharge lamps.

It is an object of the invention to provide a luminaire of the above type which may have one or more optical assemblies attached thereto in desired arrangement.

It is a particular object of the invention to provide in a luminaire of the above type which has a ballast housing a mount ing device for readily and selectively attaching one or more optical assemblies to the same ballast housing for operation by the ballast components therein.

Another object of the invention is to provide a mounting device for industrial luminaires of the above type wherein an optical assembly may be readily and interchangeably attached to the ballast housing either directly or by means of a mounting device.

Another object of the invention is to provide an accessory mounting device for industrial luminaires of the above type whereby the mounting height of the attached optical assembly may be raised.

Other objects and advantages will become apparent from the following description and the appended claims.

With the above objects in view, the present invention relates to a luminaire comprising, in combination, a ballast housing, an elongated mounting arm detachably connected at one end to the ballast housing and extending laterally therefrom, and an optical assembly detachably connected to the other end of the mounting arm.

The invention will be better understood from the following description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. I is a view in elevation of an industrial luminaire comprising two optical assemblies symmetrically attached to opposite sides of a common ballast housing in accordance with the invention;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the mounting arm device employed in accordance with the invention for removably attaching the optical assemblies shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a longitudinal sectional view of the mounting arm device and the portion of the ballast housing to which it is attached;

FIG. 4 is a top plan view of the mounting arm device;

FIG. 5 is a bottom plan view of a portion of the ballast housing wall;

FIG. 6 is a detail view of the joint between the mounting arm device and the ballast housing; and

FIG. 7 is an exploded view in perspective of the slidable connection between the mounting arm device and the optical assembly.

Referring now to the drawings, and particularly to FIG. 1, there is shown an industrial luminaire comprising a ballast housing I suspended from a conduit 2 and having a pair ofoptical assemblies 3, 3a attached by accessory mounting arms 4 to ballast housing 1. Each optical assembly includes a reflector 5 in which is mounted a lamp 6, typically of high intensity gaseous discharge type such as a mercury vapor lamp, secured to a lamp holder or socket 7 so as to extend downwardly therefrom into reflector 5. Socket 7 is secured within socket casing or housing 8 which is joined to the top of reflector 5, with windows 11 being provided therebetween (either open or glass-covered) to permit light to emanate upwardly out of the luminaire.

Ballast housing 1 may be of the structure more fully disclosed in co-pending Osteen et al., application Ser. No. 850,459, filed Aug. 15, I969, and assigned to the same assignee as the present invention. As there disclosed, ballast housing 1 is of a four-sided, generally square shape and contains electrical ballast components, such as a transformer and one or more capacitors, which are connected to the gaseous discharge lamp for operating the latter. The side walls of ballast housing I are formed with vertical cooling fins 10. Means for detachably connecting the optical assembly 3 to the bottom of ballast housing I are disclosed and claimed in co-pending Osteen et a]. application Ser. No. 882,886, filed Dec. 8 1969, and assigned to the same assignee as the present invention. As there disclosed, and shown in FIG. 7 of this application, the top of socket housing 8 has formed thereon a hanger device 9 which is adapted to be slidably attached to and suspended from a combined receptacle and support unit 10 of inverted channel shape fixed to the bottom of ballast housing 1 so that electrical connection between the parts may be made while mechanically connecting the optical assembly to the ballast housing. In the present invention, a similar support unit 10 is secured to the outer overhanging end 4 p of each mounting arm 4 so as to enable it to slidably receive hanger device 9 of the optical assembly. In this way, optical assembly 3 may be selectively hung on the bottom of ballast housing 1 or on one or more lateral mounting arms 4 as desired. 4

Mounting device 4 comprises (see FIGS. 2 and 3) an elongated hollow body 41: extending upwardly and laterally from a bifurcated base portion 4c having connecting lugs or hooks 4d, 4e projecting at the bottom thereof. Each lug 4d, 42 is formed with an aperture arranged between spaced ridges, the lugs being adapted to embrace the bottoms of two correspondingly spaced rectangular bosses la extending downwardly from the adjacent side wall of ballast housing 1 (see FIGS. 3 and 5). The thus assembled parts are firmly secured together by a screw 13 passing through the aperture in each lug 4d, 4e and into an aligned aperture in each boss 1a. At its top, bifurcated base portion 4c is formed with a hook portion 4k and an apertured projection 41' arranged side-by-side. In the assembly, hook portion 4k fits between adjacent tins 1c on housing 1 and is received in a recess 16 in a flange of the upper side wall of the housing, while apertured projection 4i also fits between adjacent fins of housing 1 so that its aperture registers with an aperture 1d in the housing wall flange (see FIG. 6) whereby conductive lead wires 12 may pass from the interior of ballast housing 1 to the interior of mounting arm 4 through the thus aligned apertures.

The bottom of mounting arm 4 is closed by a removable plate 15 secured by screws 16 to reinforcing bosses 4m, 4n extending vertically on opposite sides of arm 4 (see FIGS. 3 and 4).

As its outermost end, mounting arm 4 is formed with a horizontal overhanging portion 4p to the under side of which is secured, by screws or the like, combined receptacle support unit 10 having spaced parallel tracks l0a, 10b extending along its bottom, and having an insulated electrical receptacle 10c mounted in its interior. Hanger device 9 secured at the top of optical assembly 3 (see FIG. 7) is formed with spaced parallel flanges or runners 9a, 9b complementary to and adapted to slidably engage the corresponding tracks 10a, 10b so as to hang therefrom. Mounted at the top of hanger 9 between runners 9a, 9b is an electrical plug connector including spaced prongs 9d, 9e which are received in electrical receptacle 10c of support unit 10 when hanger 9 is slid fully into support unit 10. In this way, optical assembly 3 is simultaneously hung from mounting arm 4 and electrically connected to the luminaire operating circuit.

Although not shown, it will be understood that lead wires 12 pass through the interior of mounting arm 4 and are suitably connected to electrical receptacle 10c.

While only two optical assemblies are shown attached to the ballast housing, it will be evident that an optical assembly may be attached to each or any desired number of sides of the housing, as well as to the bottom of the latter as disclosed in the aforementioned co-pending application. Various combinations of numbers and types of lamps or optical assemblies could obviously be employed as desired for various purposes.

While the present invention has been described with reference to particular embodiments thereof, it will be understood that numerous modifications may be made by those skilled in the art without actually departing from the scope of the invention. Accordingly, we wish to have it understood that we intend herein to cover all such modifications as fall within the true and spirit and scope of our invention.

What we claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

l. A luminaire comprising, in combination, a ballast housing having a top and opposite substantially parallel sides and containing electrical operating components, means at the top of said housing for hanging the same from a ceiling, and an elongated mounting device detachably connected at one end to one side of said housing and extending laterally therefrom, each side of said ballast housing having first connecting means, said elongated mounting device having at said one end second connecting means detachably engageable with said first connecting means for selective detachable connection of said mounting device to any of said sides, an optical assembly supported at the other end of said mounting device, said optical assembly including a socket casing, a reflector and a gaseous discharge lamp connected to said electrical operating components for operation thereby, and co-acting support means and hanger means detachably connecting said optical assembly to said other end of said mounting device, said support means comprising an overhanging support portion at said other end of said mounting device having straight track means thereon, said hanger means comprising flange means on said socket casing complementary to and slidable on said straight track means for removable attachment of said optical assembly to said support means, said support means and said hanger means having co-acting separable plug and receptacle electrical connecting means independent of said track and flange means for automatically making electrical connection therebetween upon slidable attachment of said hanger means to said support means.

2. A luminaire as defined in claim 1, said elongated mounting means extending upwardly from said one side of said ballast housing so that said other end thereof is substantially at the level of the top of said ballast housing, 

1. A luminaire comprising, in combination, a ballast housing having a top and opposite substantially parallel sides and containing electrical operating components, means at the top of said housing for hanging the same from a ceiling, and an elongated mounting device detachably connected at one end to one side of said housing and extending laterally therefrom, each side of said ballast housing having first connecting means, said elongated mounting device having at said one end second connecting means detachably engageable with said first connecting means for selective detachable connection of said mounting device to any of said sides, an optical assembly supported at the other end of said mounting device, said optical assembly including a socket casing, a reflector and a gaseous discharge lamp connected to said electrical operating components for operation thereby, and co-acting support means and hanger means detachably connecting said optical assembly to said other end of said mounting device, said support means comprising an overhanging support portion at said other end of said mounting device having straight track means thereon, said hanger means comprising flange means on said socket casing complementary to and slidable on said straight track means for removable attachment of said optical assembly to said support means, said support means and said hanger means having co-acting separable plug and receptacle electrical connecting means independent of said track and flange means for automatically making electrical connection therebetween upon slidable attachment of said hanger means to said support means.
 2. A luminaire as defined in claim 1, said elongated mounting means extending upwardly from said one side of said ballast housing so that said other end thereof is substantially at the level of the top of said ballast housing. 